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NOTES for Exo 32:1-35

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1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -- ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
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Today we read that a person before God and a person in the world before people are often completely different people. Moses, contemplating God, is filled with His greatness and His mercy. The people have been unfaithful, but Moses speaks with the One who is stronger than any sin. With the One who judges by mercy, not by justice. And, turning to the merciful and holy God, Moses asks Him to have mercy on the people.

In such a state of spirit, having received forgiveness for the idolatrous people, he descends and immediately changes. A harsh reprisal, the destruction of the tablets: this is how his anger expresses itself.

The situation is familiar. How often we read with indignation about harsh reprisals by believers against unbelievers, against believers in something else, against those who express their faith differently. Before us are the actions of people incapable of containing God's mercy within themselves. We are even ready to ask for mercy for sinners, but we are not ready to forgive those who, from our point of view, are unworthy of this mercy.

Other notes

 
For Exo 32:1-35
1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.
4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.
25 And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:)
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
31 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -- ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.
Hide
The story of the golden calf is revealing in many respects. The most interesting thing about it is that those who made it did not at all intend to betray Yahweh, to betray the God of Abraham and Moses...  Read more

The story of the golden calf is revealing in many respects. The most interesting thing about it is that those who made it did not at all intend to betray Yahweh, to betray the God of Abraham and Moses. They wanted the very God who had brought them out of Egypt to stand before them. To stand before them visibly, tangibly, perceptibly. In such a way that no one would have any doubts: God is really here, among them.

He had not abandoned them; He had not gone off somewhere onto the mountain with Moses. From there everything is simple: with one impulse the people cast something for themselves, and this something takes on the form of a calf, the image of the Egyptian god Apis, whose symbol was that same notorious calf. Aaron personally finishes the casting, so that the God who brought the people out of Egypt will look more beautiful. Nonsense? Absurdity? Madness? Some of each, perhaps. The main point is the simple fact that the people had still not entered into the covenant.

Because the covenant that had been made presupposed something very clear: from now on each person builds his own relationship with God, and each person is responsible for it himself. And suddenly the question is heard again: where is Moses? Where has he disappeared? And where is his God? This is where the problem lies. Instead of our God, my God, it is his God. Moses' God. Just as it had been up to then: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. After the Sinai covenant it was supposed to become: the God of Israel.

Of all Israel precisely, not only of Moses. But that did not happen: Moses disappears from sight, and with him God disappears too - and again it is his God, the God of Moses. He is still not the God of Israel; He has still not become so. It is no accident that God proposes that Moses abandon the people, leave them to their own fate, which in the wilderness would certainly have turned out very sadly for them, and begin everything from the beginning.

With a new people who will come from Moses. What, in fact, remains if the examination has been failed, if after all the words spoken at Sinai, after all the promises made at the conclusion of the covenant-union, the God of Moses still has not become Israel's God? It is Moses who persuades and implores God to try again, to give the people another chance. God is already ready to begin everything with a clean slate, but He yields to Moses. He yields to His prophet, His servant. This is not surprising: God often yields to someone who asks Him for something, especially if the one asking is himself ready to take part in what he wants. God agrees to give the people another chance, a chance to become His people. A chance for Israel to allow Him, the God of Moses, to become the God of Israel.

Hide
 
For Exo 32:7-14
7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Hide
Who are the people of God? And what is their history? We are used to looking at this history through the eyes of an ordinary earthly person. We know history. We know that...  Read more

Who are the people of God? And what is their history? We are used to looking at this history through the eyes of an ordinary earthly person. We know history. We know that the people of God are the Jewish people. We know that Abraham was their father, and Moses was the great prophet who led them out of Egypt. We know what the Jewish people's road from Egypt to the land promised by God was like. And it seems to us that it could not have been otherwise. In our own way, we are right: history has no subjunctive mood.

But that is in our world. In a fallen and therefore limited world. In the great world of God, which has always remained His Kingdom, everything is different. There an alternative is possible. Our history exists there not because of any necessity - social, political, economic, or any other kind - but because of God's choice and decision. A decision that also takes into account people's free choice. Those people whom God addressed when He wanted to make them fathers and spiritual leaders of the people. Those people to whom He gave the Torah. Those people who, while Moses was not nearby, each made their own choice: to take part in worshiping the calf or not.

That is why alternatives are always possible in God's great world. Nothing is predetermined. Everything can always be begun again, including the history of the people of God. Everything is possible for God, but He looks at the person. At his choice.

God says to Moses: you see, the experiment has failed. Or is about to fail. The people were given a chance, but they will not be able to use it - that is already clear. "Your people," God emphasizes, speaking to Moses. Yours, not Mine: My people do not dance around the calf. So perhaps, God says to Moses, shall we begin again? For example, with you: you are faithful to Me, you know Me, and I know you. From you, with My help, another people will come; they too will be given a chance, and this other people descended from you may make better use of it than the present one.

But Moses does not want to abandon what has been started. He says: what about Your plan? After all, this is a witness to the whole world. Can it really fail? Let us still try again. That is what Moses says to God. And God agrees with His prophet. And the history of the people of God continues. The people below thought: Moses settled the matter. At a high price - all the apostates were killed - but he settled it. That is how it looks from earth. From heaven it looks different. But among Moses' contemporaries, only he knew this. And maybe the few people to whom he dared to tell it. And now we know it too. All that remains is to choose.

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For Exo 32:32
32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -- ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Hide
In both Yahwism and Judaism, the idea appears quite early that a person's fate is determined by what God has written about him in the book of his life. Many Semitic peoples, and not only Semitic peoples, had ideas of something similar. But in...  Read more

In both Yahwism and Judaism, the idea appears quite early that a person's fate is determined by what God has written about him in the book of his life. Many Semitic peoples, and not only Semitic peoples, had ideas of something similar. But in Yahwism, and later in Judaism, these ideas changed somewhat in comparison with the way they existed among other peoples.

Most peoples had the idea of fate, of inexorable destiny, unchangeable precisely because it had been written beforehand on certain heavenly tablets that determine a person's earthly path. This record is made at a person's birth, and nothing in it can be changed. Such fatalism is absolutely foreign to the Bible. The fate of a specific person is not predetermined, if only because God does not have a future that is predetermined beforehand and laid out in detail. Future events are determined in the present, determined depending on the will of God and the free choice of the human person.

What the future will be depends not only on God, but also on us ourselves. At the same time, however, in Yahwism and Judaism there is the idea that the people of God, their appearance and their history, at least its main direction, were conceived by God even before the creation of the world. God needed a special people who would become a people-community of the faithful, worshiping Him. And therefore such a people had to appear without fail, for God's plan cannot fail to be carried out. But exactly who will become part of this people, who will belong to it, depends not only on God, but also on people.

People often ask: what if Abraham, in his time, had not followed God, had said "no" to Him? Would God's plan have collapsed? No, of course not. Someone else would simply have stood in Abraham's place, someone who would have said "yes" to God. But that would already have been a different history of a different people, a history that we would know from a sacred book, perhaps with a completely different title.

After all, God also more than once offered Moses the chance to begin the experiment again, from a clean slate, beginning with him, with Moses, who, like Abraham in his time, could have become the forefather of a new people of God. But Moses refuses. He wants to bring to completion what God began with his help. For him, failure means total collapse, after which his own life is worth nothing. For he understands that God's plan is a chance for the human person, a unique chance given only once. God has eternity ahead, but for Moses and his people there will be no second time. And Moses is ready to go to the end, whatever it costs him. For he knows that God's plan cannot fail.

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